Automation Anywhere Posts Record Growth In 2017

January 30, 2018

SAN JOSE, Calif. — January 30, 2018 — Automation Anywhere, the largest enterprise software provider in Robotic Process Automation (RPA), today announced extraordinary customer and partner growth during the second half of 2017 and record-breaking growth for the full calendar year.

The company executed over 890 deals from July through December 2017 and a total of 1,435 deals in the full year. In the second half, Automation Anywhere added 238 new customers. Together with 158 customer additions in the first half of the year, Automation Anywhere gained 396 new enterprise customers in 2017 – more than one customer signed per day in 2017. The company now has 932 enterprise customers using its Intelligent Digital Workforce Platform, reinforcing its position as having the industry’s largest global customer base. New customers in 2017 include technology giants Cisco, Google and Huawei, global logistics leader FedEx, banking leaders Bancolombia and Rabobank, fashion manufacturer Fossil Group, Singapore security leader Certis Cisco, Australian marketing services company Sensis, and global marketing services provider Quad/Graphics.

Automation Anywhere had an upsell growth rate of 411 percent in total business in the second half of 2017 compared with the second half of 2016. 2017’s subscription revenue growth rate was 146 percent year-over-year.

Mihir Shukla, the company’s CEO and co-founder, said: “After a record year of growth in 2016, we again set new growth records in 2017. We are not only acquiring new customers at a faster pace, we experienced an unparalleled upsell growth rate of 411 percent in the second half of 2017, validating our business model and delivering a superior RPA product to customers who want to start fast and scale fast. Customer success is driving our success.”

During the year the company solidified its market lead in the Americas and APAC regions with triple digit growth. In addition, 2017 saw significant expansion in Europe with a year-over-year increase of new enterprise customers of over 210 percent. The company had an existing annual customer retention rate of more than 98 percent, a very strong indicator of customer satisfaction as organizations continue to heavily invest in Automation Anywhere solutions.

Coming into 2018, 10 percent of Automation Anywhere’s global customer base were in various stages of deploying IQ Bot, the industry’s only cognitive RPA solution.

“Customers are embracing our AI-driven analytics and cognitive tools which enable them to experience the only true Intelligent Digital Workforce platform,” said Shukla. “We have a large penetration of IQ Bot adopters implementing AI capabilities today. Cognitive automation is the fastest growing area of our business and we expect this to accelerate further in 2018.”

HfS Research CEO and Chief Analyst Phil Fersht commented, “Our research indicates the global market for robotic automation software will reach $1.5 billion this year, and Automation Anywhere’s momentum has contributed significantly to this category’s growth. The firm is gaining impressive momentum each quarter with a consistent increase in customer wins and partner network growth, and impressive continual development of its solutions usability and features. The firm is also a strong contributor to thought leadership on the benefits and challenges of the Digital Workforce.”

Partner Expansion Automation Anywhere greatly expanded its partner network in 2017, adding 27 new partners, bringing its total number of global partners to 74, as partners continue to drive strong bookings growth. In the second half of 2017, IBM chose Automation Anywhere’s RPA technology to embed into its business process automation portfolio.

Ankur Kothari, Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer, said: “Our impressive partner growth is the direct result of the value we deliver to customers with the industry’s most intuitive and most easily scalable Intelligent Digital Workforce Platform. No other platform is as easily implemented or scales as quickly. Our partners clearly see this advantage for their end customers and in turn the success of their own practices. During 2017, Automation Anywhere partners realized 150 percent growth in bookings versus 2016.”

Continued Product Leadership In December 2017, the company launched the latest version of its flagship product, Automation Anywhere Enterprise 11. Building on a robust enterprise RPA platform, Enterprise 11 delivers enhancements in scalability, security and cognitive automation. (More details can be found here.) Earlier in the year, Automation Anywhere also launched IQ Bot 5.0, the industry’s only bot capable of learning from observing human behavior. (More details can be found here.)

Automation Anywhere University Momentum In August 2017, Automation Anywhere University (AAU) was launched as a comprehensive RPA training ecosystem for students, RPA professionals, global enterprises and non-profits. AAU includes a library of RPA courses and certification programs, an online, mobile-first eLearning platform and a network of training partners that deliver instructor-led, hands-on RPA training at a fast-growing list of authorized centers around the globe.

Over 20,000 students enrolled in AAU in the first three months since its launch. An additional 15,000 students have completed in-classroom, instructor-led RPA certification at authorized AAU training and testing centers. The AAU ecosystem continues to grow with an ever-expanding RPA certification catalog, micro-learning courses, video lessons, gamification, peer-to-peer community and new partnerships that are set to include renowned universities and colleges.